Cute Chicks

This is totally me:

You might not be able to read the caption, but it says “Jenny spent many a pregnant night dreaming of breast-feeding, washing hemp diapers, and handcrafting education toys from pieces of twine. And then she had the baby.”

I was one of those people who said my kid won’t watch TV until she’s much older, and even then in moderation. Then I had the baby. And if 5 minutes of Noggin will snap her out of a fussy time and allow me to regain my sanity, then let’s watch Oswald, baby! I’m still on the fence about cloth diapers. I swear my child poops more than I thought possible. I should have started back when it was all breastmilk poop and not as offensive as real food poop. Yucko. Oh yeah, I also wanted her to play with handmade, organic toys, not loud obnoxious plastic stuff. Unfortunately she only likes loud, plastic stuff that requires batteries. She doesn’t even touch her stuffed animals.

I love Sloane Tanen’s work. She is so funny and I love those little chickens. A few years ago I had one of her calendars in my office, but my boss at the time was a little offended by the lesbian reference in Paige, so I took it down. Recently, I put her Hatched book on my Amazon wishlist without seeing any of the images and now that I’ve looked at a few of the prints I realize I must have this book. In Placenta, the chicken is babywearing!! (There’s a phrase you probably don’t see often, “the chicken is babywearing”) Only my fellow babywearing mamas probably find that as hilarious as I do. And Ned’s bedtime,
Goodnight Moon and Polygamist are pretty funny too. I think the book would make a really cute gift for a new mom.

Ergo Love

This is just another plug for babywearing. We made the decision not to take our stroller to Chicago last weekend. I wasn’t going to gate check our nice Zooper stroller, and didn’t feel like buying a cheapy umbrella stroller, so we carried Daphne in the Ergo. It was great in the airports (getting on escalators instead of trying to find an elevator, hopping up on the rental car transport van). It was also nice to carry her on the actual plane in the Ergo, that way I had my hands free to stow her diaper bag and my purse before getting her car seat installed in her airplane seat. I can also see how a pouch, ring sling or Moby wrap would be awesome for holding a smaller baby in your lap, if you decided not to buy them a seat. Something to think about for the next baby.

In fact, while riding on the escalator at O’Hare I thought to myself that I’m going to buy an Ergo for a shower gift for every family member and close friend who has a baby. Then I found out that Ergo was raising their prices this week and won’t allow discounts anymore. I suppose that’s still ok. They are worth it.

There was a babywearing conference at DePaul last week, which is so funny to me. Because for YEARS while we were visiting downtown Chicago my dad would drag us to DePaul and buy a hat or shirt or something (He did most of his bachelor’s at OU, but finished up a few years later at DePaul). This time I might have actually wanted to go to DePaul. Oh well. I was hoping to see a few babywearers at O’Hare. No such luck. Saw a few people with Bjorns, but nothing else. I did talk to a woman with a baby just 6 days older than Daphne. She had an Ergo too (but not with her). We bonded over babywearing and organic baby food. It was nice.

Anyway, if you are interested in babywearing check out thebabywearer.com and try to find a local babywearing group. I plan on trying to find a group here in Houston so I can make sure I’m using my new Solarveil and Maya Wrap ring slings correctly. I’m looking forward to using the Solarveil in the pool. Maybe this weekend!

Good Deals

Just a few good deals on baby stuff to pass along:

Attached to Baby Spring Cleaning Sale. Lots of carriers on sale, including BabyHawk and some solarveil/water slings.

MamaBargains.com, kind of like Woot, but for baby stuff.

Janie and Jack’s Season Finale sale starts tomorrow, but some SF prices are already online.

Jen & Daph’s Big Adventure

This morning Daphne & I headed over to Homewood for a Magic City Slingers meeting (our local babywearing group). The topic was DIY projects and it was very informative. I think I’m inspired to make my own ring sling, because I still just don’t think I’m getting a good fit with my two pouch slings. Daphne likes me to wear her in a hip carry in a sling around the house. If we are going somewhere I normally put her in the Ergo and do a back carry (that is if my husband is there as a spotter, I actually had a woman in the library stop me and ask how I put her on my back by myself… yeah, I had help. I’m sure I’ll get more comfortable with doing it by myself without a bed or another person as a spotter, but I’m not there yet).

After the meeting I headed to Whole Foods to pick up some baby food. Let me just say this, there is a reason why my husband drives 99.9999% of the time we go someplace together. Not only do I drive like a grandma, but I have no sense of direction. Really, I’m not sure I could even drive you to my mother-in-law’s house in Sand Springs, OK and she’s lived there now for several years. Anyway, I had the brilliant idea to see if Oxmoor Road went all the way to 280. After I had passed I-65 I called my husband and asked him. His suggestion was to turn around and go down Lakeshore. He also said that Oxmoor had too many twists and turns and I would get confused. Nah, I can figure it out. Um, yeah. We got lost, to the point that I was going West when I should have been going East. Then, by chance, I actually found Lakeshore only to not take the right road onto 280 and got stuck going through Vestavia & Hoover. Here’s a visual… I’m trying to get to point A from point B (sorry that’s backwards). The blue line is Google Maps suggested route, and, you guessed it, the pink route is me. I suck.

Babywearing Patterns

I saw this on the Magic City Slingers Blog:  McCall’s Mei Tai and Sling Pattern

Huh.  I guess babywearing is becoming more mainstream.  Want to hear an embarrassing confession?  I first got interested in babywearing not because I was researching attachment parenting, but because I had been on a few celebrity baby blogs that had pics of several stars using pouch slings.  I hate, hate, hate big SUV stroller monstrosities.  You know the ones I’m talking about, that take up the whole fricking aisle, not to mention your entire trunk.  I thought the idea of a sling (and a lightweight stroller) sounded like a great solution.  Since then I found I prefer mei tais and soft structured carriers like my Ergo.

It would be interesting to see the pattern instructions. The back envelope says you can use cotton or stretch cotton.  I wouldn’t think that would be safe.  The pattern I purchased from Montessori by Hand was the same way.  I had planned on making my own mei tai and reinforcing the cotton with a thicker twill or canvas and then padding the straps.  Eventually I gave up because I just didn’t want to kill my new sewing machine by trying to sew over so many thick layers.   It is interesting that McCall’s created a pattern.  Maybe I’ll see more babywearing moms out and about.

Baby Bisou

A saw a link to Baby Bisou baby carriers on Cool Mom Picks today and decided to check them out, especially since CMP was giving one away free. Check out their Almond Sparrows carrier:

Look familiar?? Here’s the fabric that I picked for my next mei tai. I’m just waiting on some fusible fleece to arrive for the straps before I start.

If you are interested in a Baby Bisou, check them out at thebabywearer.com. I’m not familiar with the brand. They do donate 10% of their profits to Half the Sky foundation, which supports orphaned children (mainly girls) living in Chinese institutions. Very cool. Speaking of China, did you see they have decided to keep their one child policy for at least the next 10 years? It will be interesting to see what happens with the gender imbalance over the next few decades.  And how/if it effects their adoption policies.

Sacajawea Theory

I saw a link to this post, The Sacajawea Theory v 2.0, from Sweet Juniper on Parenthacks. Very funny and true. I particularly like the line about his fabric draped, babywearing wife being confused with a Christo art installation (That’s the guy that wraps small islands and bridges in fabric). HA!! I needed a good laugh this morning.

Road Testing the Ergo

Daphne & I decided to take advantage of the 75 degree weather and go for a walk today.  I tried out my new Ergo and managed a back carry all by myself (well, with my bed as “spotter” in case she slid off my back).  She really liked being outside.  The only problem I had was trying to get her sun hat on her head while she was on my back.  Should have put it on her before putting her in the Ergo.  I tried putting it on after, and it was like a ring toss but behind your back.  Um yeah, the hat wasn’t anywhere near her head.  Oh well, next time I’ll know.  I will say the Ergo was very easy to use, in fact I think even Chris could use it.   Not that he couldn’t use my Babyhawk mei tai, but he doesn’t like to fool with the straps.  The Ergo is all buckles.  And with the added weight of Daphne I could tell I was getting a better walking workout.  We will have to make this a habit.

Ergo Deal

Mybumblebaby.com has Ergo Baby Carriers on sale for $73.95 shipped.  Use code ergosale108.  This is a great deal.  I’ve never seen Ergos on sale.

MCS Meeting

Daphne & I had a good time at our first Magic City Slingers meeting this morning. The topic was Asian-inspired Baby Carriers (or ABCs, like a Chinese mei tai or Korean podegi) and we got a demonstration on how to do different carries, as well as a brief demo on some soft structured carriers, like an Ergo, Beco and a Korean chunei. I just love my mei tai and have been looking at eventually getting a soft structured carrier, so it was nice to see one up close. I might need to try out an Ergo, it definitely looks like something that I could get Chris to use too.

Daphne did surprisingly well with all the activity and noise (and it was very active and very noisy!). We sat next to another newbie with her 5 month old son, Han (as in Solo, which is awesome!). I look forward to getting more involved with this group. It was so nice to be out and socializing with other moms.